All Areas
A Strong Economy Isn’t Enough: 280,000 Utahns Live in Poverty and Need Help
Utah's economy is one of the best in the nation. State leaders rightly trumpet our success and rankings throughout the state and as they travel throughout the world. But this success and these rankings would mean a lot more if we were doing better to help those who...
Biden Is Right: Americans Should Not Receive Unemployment Benefits if They Can Work
There has been some debate about President Biden's recent statement that Americans who turn down jobs won't be able to...
“Returnships” for People Returning to Work
Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson recently signed an executive order requiring most...
Support for NV Bill AB219: Sealing Criminal Records When Charges Have Been Dismissed
We support Nevada bill AB219, which would allow courts to automatically seal the record of a person when a prosecutor...
The Dignity Gap
For some Americans, dignity isn’t a right so much as it’s a commodity. Or at least it is according to Arthur Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute, who makes this argument in...
Intergenerational Trauma Among American Indians
Trauma has been garnering more and more attention over the past few years, with the rampant climb of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the understanding of what can cause it. Intergenerational...
Flipping the Script on Poverty
President and CEO Paul Mero wrote an op-ed for the Deseret News explaining that we need to shift the way we see those who are in need and the way we assist them. Here is an excerpt: I contend that...
Report: Intergenerational Poverty in Utah, 2016
Key findings in the 2016 annual report include struggles in early childhood development, lack of children’s health care, childhood homelessness and juvenile justice system involvement. The report...
Congress Begins to Wrap Its Mind Around Intergenerational Poverty
Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) have introduced the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act pushing the federal government to collaborate and innovate with states on...
Not Native Enough
About 27 percent of Utah’s American Indian students are chronically absent from school — higher than any other racial group in Utah and higher than the national average of 21 percent for American...
As Family Goes, So Go the Public Schools
When it comes to education, Florida faces a paradox: Its public schools are highly rated, but its students register just average scores and high suspension rates. The Urban Institute in a recent...
Where’s the Parent Outrage over Education?
What makes the matter so outrageous is that the governor, legislators and business leaders keep spending more money, and they ignore the most serious problem affecting public education — its...
Understanding the Gender Wage Gap
Women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes. That’s an accurate statistic, but it doesn’t capture the complexity of the wage gap. It doesn’t, for example, reveal that the wage gap changes over...
Utah Legislature tries to address struggling schools
The School Turnaround and Leadership Development Act (and amended) came as follow-up legislation to the school grading system, which lawmakers enacted several years ago as a way to easily identify...
Utah’s KIDS COUNT child health ranking drops from 7th in 2015 to 27th in 2016
Utah now has one of the lowest rates of child health insurance coverage in the nation. Even more alarming, Utah is worst in the nation for insuring Hispanic children and children with family incomes...
America’s War on Poverty
Paul Mero, president and CEO, recently wrote an op-ed for the Deseret News about our need to recognize the human dignity of those who are poor. Here are a couple of excerpts: [A]t the heart of...
Poverty is a Thriving Industry in Utah
The purpose of the War on Poverty in 1964 was to have the “maximum feasible participation of the poor” involved in planning, employment and implementation of the program. Its intent was supposed to...
Strengthening Our Safety Net: A Proposal, Utah Health Policy Project
There are holes in our safety net, most notably in dental and specialty care, funding for medications, lab tests, imaging, mental health, and inpatient services. In some locations there are no...
The Gini Coefficient-Income Inequality
The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality of variance. It is often applied to measure inequality of incomes in a particular area. A score of "0" on the Gini coefficient represents complete...
Utah Leads in Volunteering and Civic Engagement
Utah leads the nation in volunteer service. A 2015 report shows that 43.23% of Utahns volunteer in some capacity, with Minnesota coming in second at 35.43%. Nevada falls in at 48th, with only 19.61%...
Marriage, Penalized: Does Social-Welfare Policy Affect Family Formation?, Institute for Family Studies
The expanding reach of the welfare state means that a substantial share of lower-middle-class couples with children receive such aid—and many of these couples receive more generous support if they...
Utah Leads in Charitable Giving
Utah typically leads the nation in charitable giving. About 71 percent of Utahns reported having donated money to charity, and on average, families donated 6.6 percent of their household income....
Report: Intergenerational Poverty in Utah, 2015
Utah communities impacted by intergenerational poverty are increasingly utilizing the data contained in these annual reports. These communities are attaining greater understanding of the educational...
Report: Intergenerational Poverty in Utah, 2014
The most significant development in the 2014 report is the inclusion of data from the other four agencies providing services to children and their families: Department of Health (DOH), Department of...
Report: Intergenerational Poverty in Utah, 2013
These findings and other work from the Committee and Commission suggest that more research should be done in the realm of mental health events and the differences in outcomes of early childhood...
Report: Intergenerational Poverty in Utah, 2012
Access to interstate public assistance data, exchanges of information with private non-profits and faith-based organizations, and collaboration between Utah state agencies to match public assistance...
Report: Utah’s Plan for a Stronger Future, 5- and 10-year plan to address intergenerational poverty
This comprehensive plan provides a roadmap for addressing intergenerational poverty. The roadmap provides the structure necessary to maintain focus and develop the goals necessary to allow all...
Report: Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission, Agendas and Minutes
In 2012, the Utah Legislature adopted the Intergenerational Poverty Mitigation Act. This Act created the Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission, requiring the Department of Workforce Service to...
